Jason Gideon is a fictional character in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, portrayed by Mandy Patinkin. Gideon is a Senior Supervisory Special Agent and the unit chief of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and appeared from the series' pilot episode "Extreme Aggressor," which was originally broadcast on September 22, 2005, until "In Name and Blood," the second episode of the third season. He is also portrayed as a younger man by Ben Savage in flashbacks. Mandy Patinkin abruptly left the show in 2007, just as his character abruptly quit from the BAU, due to emotional distress. In 2012, Patinkin opened up about why he left stating that the show "was very destructive to my soul and my personality. After that, I didn't think I would get to work in television again." Immediately after Gideon's departure, Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) is appointed unit chief. When Hotchner also leaves the BAU, the position is given to Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), then temporarily to Jennifer Jareau (A. J. Cook), until Prentiss again becomes chief and remains so for the duration of the series. In season ten, Gideon is murdered off-screen by serial killer Donnie Mallick (Arye Gross). From Wikipedia
